DAC17

Anyone here install a heated steering wheel on your RDX? Having it done by a local shop, but wondered if there were any particular tips or issues that they may encounter.

Thanks.

chappyja

I had one put in my RDX by the local dealer. It was worth the money to have them do it IMO.

swttsx007

What did it cost for the dealer to do it - parts and labor?

EFR

I had the heated steering wheel and running boards installed which I supplied from online purchase to my local dealer, and labor was $455. I know that is probably not helpful as it does not answer your one question...but for what it is worth.

chappyja

I paid $606 all in. The steering wheel was $428, labor was $178. Hope that helps! BTW, I had also had them previously install the remote start. The best part is when I remote start the RDX, the steering wheel automatically warms up when the car temp is below a certain level. After maybe 1 minute of it being started, it is already warm. I do live in NC, so we don't get brutal cold winters, but I don't need to wear gloves, which is nice.

DAC17

My dealer wanted $806 all in. Not. I bought the wheel from Curry for 375, and having a local shop install it next week. I'll let you know what that costs.

SVTour

Is there really a reason why the dealer needs to install this? I heard about sensors that needed adjusted, just didn't know if it was BS.

I've swapped out steering wheels before - have the tools to do so. Just never did it on a car with electric steering.

Type X

honda/acura accessories dont carry the 1 yr warranty if they are not installed by the dealer. Changing the wheel is nothing its the harnesses and rest of the install.

plus if you go independent and have an issue anywhere in cluster or steering relayed they can take the easy way out and point to that…

on my 2017 crv i did everything except the heated wheel
i had honda do it , install pdf was 20+ pages lol

Showkey

I have a heated steering wheel on my ‘19 Ridgeline RTLE it was factory stock. It’s nice, but not worth $600-$800 and I live in cold climate and I ski daily.

If I had to choice a remote start would be much higher on my want list. The Ridgeline has remote start as factory install as well.

Trek

My RDX came with a heated steering wheel courtesy of Acura. I won't buy a car without it.

DAC17

Got it done today. It works perfectly. 2 hours labor at a good local shop.

SVTour

I ended up doing this myself. Not sure if it's because I'm too cheap...or that I dislike others working on my cars.

Needless, if you are one to do your own mods, turn a wrench here or there, it's extremely simple. The directions online are straight forward and I had zero issues through all the steps. Hardest part is working the new cable management along the new wheel, as the old harness had 5 plugs and the new one has 8...but once you realize the grey plug runs along the side to the bottom - it all works out pretty well (see picture below). Only 'tricky' part you may miss...there's an existing 2 prong cable that is taped underneath. You need to remove that tape and use that plug. It's marked in the instructions...just odd that it was already there.

Difficulty scale - maybe a 2 out of 5, Just note that I did not need a gear puller for this...your case may vary. Took me about an hour an a half...not counting a 15-20 minute wait after disconnecting the battery. If I would have needed a gear puller, it would have added 10 minutes at the most.

This is the old harness - but the gray connector will come down this side of the cable management.


The two prong connector gets connected here in the new cable wire ring.


Yellow clip stumped me for a few minutes. the black strap is spring loaded...when you slide it, this disconnects.


Nothing like toasty hands on a cold day.

Feathers

Did you need to connect through i-HDS for reprogram or clear any codes? I'm willing to try myself but would rather not do the walk of shame to a dealer if it needs to be reprogrammed.

SVTour

There were no codes that I needed to clear upon finishing. Hooked up the battery once everything was done...and test drove it immediately.

There have been no issues since my install 6 weeks ago.

EFR

I have never had a heated wheel before. Great addition. i was surprised how fast they heat up...seconds and it's warm. Also the first cr I have ever owned with heated/cooled seats. Great stuff!

SR.

Hi,

The Chicago Acura dealer is quoting $306 for labor and $806 in all for labor plus heated steering wheel. Is this a fair price? Does anyone know a good dealer in Chicago area that can help with installation if I buy the steering outside?

nightkidTLS

I just copped the flat bottom heated steering wheel for my 2020 rdx Aspec off ebay for $500. It came with all the guts. First question; did I over pay? LOL 😅. Second question; My car did NOT come with or have a factory heated steering wheel, and since new heated wheel came with all the guts, minus the air bag, i thought it would be plug and play. I was able to install it, but there is the one two prong cable left. it does not seem long enough to go anywhere but should be plugged into the a closer harness that does not exist. What am I missing?

nightkidTLS

Ok I think I figured it out, Based on HEATED STEERING WHEEL INSTRUCTIONS I got the wheel, but I I believe I need a new cable reel that has the port for the two prong cable. Now to try and find that part number for the cable reel.

nightkidTLS

If anyone else is looking for the clock spring or reel spring part number that has the extra port for the two prong, I believe it's 77900-TJB-D62.

CLOCK SPRING

nightkidTLS

I think that link is bad for the instructions. I hope THIS works.

SarcasticaLy

Did you finish installing this?? How did you do the VSA neutral position memorization?

nightkidTLS

Yes, I did finish. Here is some photos of the different clock springs as well as the final product. As far as the VSA neutral position memorizations, this is news to me. I guess i missed it in the instructions. I got no errors or lights on the dash as a result, so maybe you can skip that part? I did mark the position of the wheel when i removed it.

SarcasticaLy

My Acura technician friend says I probably missed the 2 pin plug and that there shouldn’t be any other process or faults showing up. Hopefully that’s the case but I don’t remember missing anything. We’ll find out when I get home tonight.

SarcasticaLy

Looks like I didn’t miss anything. May have to tear it all apart again to make sure everything is seated. Very annoying. ALL the driver assist systems have warning lights.

nightkidTLS

dumb question, but did you get the right clock spring for your car? There are a lot of numbers out there for them. Also, when you replaced the clock spring, did you take the old one apart and attach the back half of it to the new one? I almost stuck it all back together when I noticed that I had one clip that didn't go anywhere and that is because I forgot the combined the old parts with the new. I hope that helps.

SarcasticaLy

appreciate the post. Yeah, the kit came with everything; new steering wheel, harness, clock spring, module with the heated steering whee button. I think there’s one standalone clip I may have missed on the clock spring. On the backside. There’s two plugs on one side and the single plug by itself few inches away. I’ll find out tonight. Too much damn OT these days.

3rdGenRDXASPEC

I installed the heated steering wheel (part # 08U97-TJB-220C this comes with all the parts) on my 2019 A-Spec. I paid with tax & shipping $325 for it.

Start to finish it took me about 30 minutes to do because I decided to skips steps 3-6 since they're not essential steps that prevents you from installing the steering wheel.
- Pull Away The Door Seal Opening
- Driver's Dashboard Side Lid
- Driver's Dashboard Side Vent
- Driver's Side Left Trim W/Engine Start Button
- Driver's Dashboard Lower Cover

The only 2 issues I had were the vehicle angle sensor light came on which triggers 7 other lights. The other was the the steering wheel wouldn't heat.

Solution for the 1st issue was I was already scheduled for an alignment so I decided to install it the day before. I brought it in & said that these lights just started coming on recently & usually go away. I didn't tell them I just installed a new steering wheel because I didn't feel the need to let them know everything I do to the car. So they said they would take a look & cleared the codes for me at no cost. Unfortunately my code clearer couldn't clear the vehicle angel sensor code.

The 2nd issue of the steering wheel not heating was as the dealer stated "The Part is Bad here's a $975 quote to replace it" I laughed & said don't worry about it. I contacted the dealer who sold it to me & they handled the warranty & I received a brand new one without having to send the one I installed back. When I went to install the new one I noticed that the reason for the steering wheel not heating was because I missed step 22 - Remove the tape to free the vehicle 2 pin connector. To be fair the illustrations are horrible & sometimes feels like I'm looking at Ikea instructions.

Needless to say if I had listened to the dealer, who clearly didn't inspect the steering wheel, I would've been out of a lot of money. However I ended up with a new spare heated steering wheel that my 5 year old son now uses to pretend that he's driving a car.

It also made me realize to start guessing the dealership going forward.

All in all I've installed the following on my own without issue & I saved myself thousands by doing it myself & not going through the dealership
- Welcome/Puddle Lights
- Illuminated A-Spec Door Sill Trim
- Running Boards
- All the Emblems to the glossy black ones
- Splash Guards
- Roof Rails
- Rear Panel Protectors

I guess my advice is if you're on the fence about installing it is if your car is about to go in for routine service just do it yourself. Your already going in for routine service so the worse that can happen is you have to get them to clear a code for free. JUST DON'T MENTION THAT YOU INSTALLED THE STEERING WHEEL YOURSELF OR I'M SURE THEY'LL FIND SOMETHING WRONG THAT ACTUALLY ISN'T REALLY WRONG.

SarcasticaLy

Agree on all fronts; shitty diagrams/instructions and having been a tech at a Mercedes dealership, you never know if your car is worked on by the newbie off the street that talked his way into the job or the master tech who’s been there since the dealership opened so literally the only thing good about dealerships is the warranty and some of them are nice enough to care about the goodwill service work. But yeah, looks like I’ll be tearing it back out tonight and I recently noticed I could skip the first few steps like you said. Good story btw! Lol.

3rdGenRDXASPEC

The actual part your talking about isn't the clock spring its the Reel Assembly Cable which has the extra 2 pin adapter for the Heated Steering Wheel. The part number is 77900-TJB-D62. That's if you need to order it.

Side note $125 for 1 month access to Honda/Acura internal service site is worth it to get as much documents from the site so you can know what they know.

nightkidTLS

What an amazing flex for your kid to have that kind of toy! lol. Do you happen to have any pics posted of all your upgrades to your RDX? I been thinking about doing some.

nightkidTLS

you right about the name of that part. It's def the reel assembly. I never heard it called that before and most people and the internet kept correcting me and calling it the clock spring. regardless, thanks for adding it!

3rdGenRDXASPEC

Yeah trying to find or identify parts online is annoying & definitely frustrating especially when trying to find parts since Acura doesn't label them as such in the parts descriptions.

They sell 2 types of Reel Assembly Cables & both have different part numbers but same description. I guess putting "Reel Assembly Cable (Heated)" is too much work.

SarcasticaLy

Alright, so anyone paying attention, here’s where I went wrong. The VSA. The vehicle steering angle sensor. I paid attention to the instructions TOO much. My Acura technician friend said he doesn’t even clock it; install it, break the green tab and put the steering wheel on. When I left my driveway to go to his house, I noticed the lines in the rear view camera were angled to the left while I was backing straight out, I finally figured that was the problem. He brought home an i-HDS and hooked it up and couldn’t get a reading from the VSA so he thought it may have been fucked up but that didn’t make sense because the car sees it (aforementioned rear view camera lines). When we turned the wheel to the right a complete 360, it lined up the lines in the rear view camera. So we took the steering wheel off and rotated the clock spring/VSA as such. I assume if you just reset the car, it would eliminate the lights and if not, a short drive would allow the car to see the right parameters again and then clear the faults. BUT since he had the i-HDS, we just recalibrated everything and voila. All good!!!

SO, do NOT follow all the instructions from the box/website should you decide to do this yourself. You do NOT have to remove the side panels. Skip the first few steps that tell you to take off the side trim pieces (as mentioned in an earlier post). Also do NOT clock the VSA, just break off the green tab and put your steering wheel back in and ensure all the plugs are plugged and enjoy the warmth.

Overall, pretty easy stuff without the hiccups and such a great value for the kit. New control unit, new steering wheel and harness and VSA for $350. That’s CHEAP for a great part(s) these days. Thanks for reading!

thedeathprojects

not sure what sensors need to be adjusted?! I'm doing one myself on my Type S TLX. just a bolt!

ScrottoBaggins

Dude, I am sitting at the dealer with this same exact issue. Stupid ass instructions tell you to clock the wheel and turn 3 times. Well its 2.5 or 3.5. I did 2.5 because it was a little over 5 total. I ended up with all the warning lights plus crooked back up lines. I knew that was it, and should have tried fixing it before coming up here. Did the lights go away after fixing the reel, or did you still need the VSA coded with ihds?

SarcasticaLy

lol. Damn. Sucks. Yes, it all went back to normal. He had his work tablet hooked up and stuff so he did it proper but simply, yes, we probably could’ve just turned it to where the reverse lines were straight again and it would’ve been fine. Cuz that caused the domino effect of triggering the rest of those lights/sensors.

ScrottoBaggins

I feel like an idiot for not going with my gut. I litterally had battery off ready to dig in and try what you did, but thought there was no way it was only 1.5 turns when instructions said 3. Acura should refund my bill for this - $235 wasted on an hour labor (!). All in all the job was pretty easy, and done in 2 hours taking my time. The aspec wheel is much nicer. I suggest doing the harness exchange while sitting at a bench or table as it takes the most time. I did it on a 2020 MDX a few months ago, so it was easier this time. No errors there and I went 3.5 turns then...